A second 2-1 win over QPR this season – results might make you think they’re something more than a vaguely competent football team. We made it difficult for ourselves, as we do, but on a night when everyone else won, we had to do the same.
Here’s how the players rated.
I like that we have learnt to win ugly, but I wish we could win comfortably a bit more often… But 3 points and all that, no one likes someone who nitpicks
Very predictable opinion on Ospina Mr.Arseplug. when Shez lets in 5 or 6 goals you say there is nothing he could do but when Ospina lets in a cracking shot you say he should have done better. Like on Monday you where giving out about his goal kicks not going far enough? WTF. Lets try be more supportive. Coyg.
I think Ospina was quite good today, and I think you could have had Ospina, Szczesny, and Gordie Banks all in goal at once and they wouldn’t have stopped that shot.
Regarding Ospina’s kicks which only reach the halfway-line, me thinks they are INTENTIONAL (HFB stands 20-30 yards into enemy territory only to sprint back towards the halfway line to meet Ospina’s ‘short kick’). During this pattern, typically Giroud will ‘flick on’ the ball with his forehead to Ozil or Alexis who are running in the other direction. For the bog standard ‘long kick’ pattern when Giroud STAYS planted 20-30 yards beyond the halfway-line, Ospina seems to have no problem effortlessly guiding the ball straight to Giroud’s forehead. Our second goal against Everton all began with Ospina’s laser-guided, counterattacking hand-kick to… Read more »
haha, come on. He just can’t kick it very far. If it’s a limitation of his game, especially on bigger pitches, I’m sure we’ll cope but don’t tell me it’s a tactic!
Didn’t see the match, but this actually sounds sensible. And Blogs; who in their right mind would put it past Wenger to put a tactic like that on goal kicks? He’s mental enough to do it. If it actually works it’s another one of those weird strokes of genius he has where it seems like he has completely lost his mind.
Fair remark, well made
Both Arseblog and Gunnerblog have their personal favourites, and Ospina has to grow another 10 inches for him to be appreciated by both. Very few goalies would have stopped that Austin strike.
Well, are you saying Ospina is totally infallible for the second goal? I’m somebody who regards himself as quite the neutral between the two and honestly, I think that was just evidence of Ospina’s limits. We did switch off in defence momentarily to allow Austin the chance but I’d like to think that when those things happen, which they do in football, we’ve got a goalkeeper capable of stopping those events. De Gea could defintely have got a hand to that, Courtois and Cech too and *possibly* Joe Hart, but they are the best keepers in the league. So when… Read more »
What? How can such an agenda-driven truth-bending comment be so popular? Blogs hasn’t said that to let that shot in was inexcusable, but Ospina’s positioning was spot on to deal with a shot of that nature and his dive did seem strangely slow – though we can’t say definitively whether it should have been a save or not thanks to the terrible birds eye camera angles at Loftus Alleyway. He’s told it like it is. Maybe it’s harsh to say you’ve got an agenda based on one comment, but it’s a bit of an overreaction to a pretty reasonable piece… Read more »
I wasn’t giving out about his goal kicks not going far, I made an observation that they just about get to halfway at the Emirates. It’s weird, never seen a keeper who kicks it that short before.
As for tonight, Szczesny has nothing to do with it – I just thought it was a really weird attempt at a save.
Ye as I said lets give him a bit of support and not pick up on what you believe to be errors, he is new to the club which can’t be easy.
Is he new to goalkeeping? And he was right about his kicks being a bit short. Not that he can’t kick it farther out .
it was weirdly attempted because the ball was pretty much already in the net as he jumped, the dip on it gave him no chance, kozza should have closed it better if to blame anyone.
I was surprised by your comments on Arsecast because I felt that Ospina’s long kicks were quite accurate and safer that Szczesny’s quick throws that most often leads to dangerous playing around with the ball.
Scezza’s kicks go further but their target seems utterly random and often end up in the oppos’ possession.
There definitely something not quite right with Ospina’s goalkeeping. The two goals against Monaco and last night against QPR…it almost looks like he is reacting very late. They were all hard shots, but you would expect better attempts to save them.
Definitely something not right with Ospina’s keeping. It looks as if he can react instinctively (see Lukaku from close range – no time to think) and not react quick enough if there is (albeit minimal) thinking time – Austen and Kondogbian).
I was talking to a mate who was a goalkeeper. He said Ospina has 2 faults he can see – he pushes the ball out when he should push it wide or hold it, and his footwork isn’t quite there. The goal last night might have beaten any keeper but think his attempted save looked a bit weird due to his footwork. While I think he’s done very well so far, I still don’t think he’s ever going to be as good as de Gea, Courtois, Lloris. We had no chance of getting the first 2, but we did have… Read more »
You are missing a point reg. his kicking, Blogs… Like many South American keepers, Ospina is good at launching them long only after throwing the ball to his feet and kicking (not from the ground up).. I urge you to look at his first game for us this season, you will see what I mean.
we ve been bullying the small teams these last 2 seasons in a weird way. first we take a lead and dominate them completely for 80-85 mins, then let them score and hang on for our dear lives. we ve been really successful at it though.
Its the big teams we struggle against.
No complaints today though.
hmmm… maybe just one.
why does ospina keep punching the ball back onto the central area just out of the box or thereabouts every time when at times he could simple catch it.
Because he’s not a particularly great keeper. Wojciech should be pissed that he is behind this guy.
He is! He down with a mysterious illness !
Nothing like giving them a bit of false hope, eh?! Let them now that their best is nowhere near good enough to beat us and crush their pathetic little child-like confidence.
Not sure this qualifies as winning ugly. Would have been a routine 3-4 goal win if the ref had spotted the pull-back on Ozil.
We still had other chances to score more but fluffed them. But for their goal, I think it was rather routine. If you want to see us win ugly, watch West Ham game again.
I think this team is our best XI right now. Rosicky, Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez switch places so easily and effectively makes our game so much better. The passing is so much more fluent with Rosicky in the side. Oh and that run to feed in Ozil for a tap in. What a player (yes, at 34)
And Ozil’s best game this season. Brilliant.
Yes. I really want to see more of Rosicky. We play better, faster paced football with him in the side. He doesn’t do the sideways passing thing.
Rosicky, Ozil, Santi, Coquelin, Alexis, Giroud. Yes please.
I like how we turned an ugly game on its head and into a fine Arsenal victory. I think everyone played pretty well and as a unit we looked solid again. If we take that into the United game and Monaco return leg we will do some damage. COYG!
How about a 10/10 for the away fans… great voice tonight!
I am digging Alexis chant.
what was the Alexis chant? any links? which song?….
the way the fans mixed it with Girouds chant….. sent goosebumps all the way to the bottom of the African continent!
Yeah it was fucking brilliant, check it out on Arsenalfantv
Definitely sounded good when the away fans got into into then match. The only time I heard the QPR fans was during the poor ref calls.
And a 10/10 for Giroud playing Rosicky like a guitar! Great pic.
happy for alexis. he needed that goal to bring his confidence back !!
not great first half, but it was worth sitting through to watch alexis make furlong look like a nugget
Per stepped up tonight, was dominant in the air and made a number of important clearances
Big game for Mertesacker, don’t count him out yet!
When Mertesaker maintains position well, he plays well. When he doesn’t he/we gets fleeced.
Its so basic it is infuriating.
The problem I have is that he can’t keep up with any player that looks to run past him. No matter how good he is in all other aspects of his game. If Coquelin and Bellerin are not there to cover for him, he might as well not be there. It’s not his fault, but there are certain situations in which Per is obsolete. That’s why we need to be extra careful when he’s playing alongside Kos/Gabriel. Again, I love the BFG but if Gabriel-Koscielny offers us more, then we should play with those two against the more pacey teams.
Haha the masked crusader,brilliant
hope gabriel injury is not too serious, hopefully he’ll be fit for monaco
A win. Not a good one since we missed around 10000000000 chances but most importantly got away with the 3 points. Santi looks tired btw
I feel a little sorry for Santi, can tell he’s starting games slow because he wants to have a laid back game for once, oh wait thats Ozils privilege. Should have rested one of them tonight for a bit more pace on the counter, got away with it because everyone suddenly decided to work hard in the 2nd half and some lovely quick football came with that. Bellerin, Sanchez or Coquelin for MOTM, probably Coquelin. Again.
i really love the coq now, good performance and neat on the ball too.
I thought we looked fairly likely to score first, but you still need some player to make it happen and tonight yet again it was Giroud. He is a proper striker. He knows when there’s a chance afoot and instinctively gets himself into a dangerous position. Delighted for him that he’s making strides here.
Sanchez- Making the simple look difficult and difficult look easy 😉
Interesting point about Gibbs needing to track another player. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on him for backing off. In the moment, I wasn’t aware there was anyone else to the right of Austin. Will have to look at the play again.
As well, I’m glad to see us taking deliberate note of Ozil’s brilliance. He will, predictably, get slated by the media for this game, as he does after every game, regardless of how genius he is. Ridiculous.
Ozil’s assistance play is usually so subtle that nobody notices it. I usually see the things he initiated only after I have watched the match a couple of times.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11451314/Mesut-Ozil-has-ran-further-than-any-Arsenal-player-since-returning-to-the-side-so-why-is-he-called-lazy.html
Yes, there was a runner to Austin’s right that Gibbs had to track
I don’t think it really matters whether there’s a runner outside Austin or not – Gibbs shouldn’t be backing off there. If not backing off means Austin plays in someone else at a tighter angle than himself that’s unfortunate but the smarter decision there is not to back off.
The fault is mostly with Kos, though.
Ozil has a great game offensively. However, how many challenges / headers did he avoid? At leat a few, and QPR got the ball from it. It seems like if the pass is not perfect, he is generaly not gonna put and effort to get it,just wait for another one.
Ozil and David Silva have an almost identical playing style but you don’t hear the press (or the fans!) bleating about how lazy he is. ffs.
I still blame Gibbs more than Kos for that goal. Gibbs is with Austin, who has the ball, when Gibbs leaves Austin anticipating a run in behind. Austin then turns and shoots. It seemed to catch both Kos and Ospina off guard. Kos didnt react quickly enough, and I think Ospina just dove before he actually tracked the flight of the ball which is why he dove over it. I wonder how long Ospina’s reach is. Seemed like the early dive was because he wasnt sure he was far enough over. In any event, even though there was a man… Read more »
I think it’s a bit harsh to blame Ospina for the Austin goal, but his first-half performance was brilliant considering how relatviely poorly Arsenal played in first half
i know we are supposed to hate him, but i just thought id give a shout out to pocchetinno, as, from what ive seen, he was the one noticed and then called the medics over to Gomis after he collapsed. genuine class from him
You’re right, you’re supposed to hate that cunt… And his mum is a whore!
Like Blogs has said, Ramsey sure as he’ll wasn’t on to consolidate the lead and make us more solid at the back. Either that or he just did his own thing and charged forward without any thought for the space left behind him like earlier in the season. I know he has been injured but honestly this season Rambo has been really poor both on the ball and tactically imo. Does he start when (if ever) all the midfielders are fit?
I would like to see the Arsenal play a match at their potential and not to the potential of their opponents once this season. I understand every match isn’t gonna be Villa, but what was today’s performance like?
what’s happened to ramsey?
Ramsey thinks he’s a striker now :/
Over the last 10 yrs or so, we have seen some really idiotic players in our colours… and the way Ramsey plays without any sense of positioning or awareness (bordering on selfishness to score goals for himself), I must say he is right up there with that lot..
And he hasn’t got any world-class technique, class or consistency either to back his idiotic displays (like most British players).. Add to that, lack of common sense and discipline – if not for Wenger’s trust, he will already have gone to a mid-table team a la Gibson or Cleverley
shut up mate, your’e boring. didn’t hear any of that when ramsey was playing incredibly well last year. You must be in league with the “Martinez in” guys, funny don’t hear the call for him becoming our manager anymore… shocking that
I don’t comment here often but on those few occasions I did last year, I more or less slated Ramsey (I remember saying that a sudden hot streak in front of goal doesn’t hide real weaknesses in his play or his lack of mastery over MF basics and that he shd concentrate on being a MF first) only to be met by predictable angry retorts.. So I’m not jumping into any ‘Ramsey is shit’ bandwagon all of a sudden.. It so happens that the hot streak is over now and Ramsey’s lack of basics are exposed again (and the groans… Read more »
6.5 for ospina?
Very harsh.
Ramsey needs to get his head examined. Only central mid (except Coq) available to us who is meant to shore us the defence for last ten minutes. Instead, he mindlessly seems to venture into attack. Can’t work him out.
Find this and other similar comments a bit bizarre if I’m honest. Once he came on around 87th minute his job wasn’t to sit back and invite pressure (don’t we all love that?), but to press high up the pitch as our midfield’s point and keep the ball in their half. He also frequently tried to receive the ball wide. When the buildup play wasn’t sure, he generally stayed in line with Santi. Plus the fullbacks weren’t going forward much at this point. The 1st thing he did was to drop back to defend before running to their half and… Read more »
Well, the mind-boggling question is has he a) been instructed to play that way or b) issued no real tactics at all. He comes on as a sub presumably having just had a quick word with either or both Wenger or Bould. Someone please explain this to me as I literally cannot get my head around this spect to Arsenal’s play…and its has been going on season in season out. I think the only thing which might have some affect is Coquelin giving him a screaming, full on dressing down in the middle of a game infront of thousands of… Read more »
Given that the second option is the way we mostly do things, I’d go with that. I like that way of doign things, the prescriptive tactical rigidity of Rednose and Mourinho leaves a club in the lurch when their players don’t know what to do without being told every game. Having said that, there’s a middle ground that I hope we lean towards!
Alan Hanson is a complete moronic twat. I noticed this hadn’t been mentioned so just thought I’d add this in
Normally goes without saying, tbh
Clearly Gibbs was listening to the most recent Arsecast Extra.
Actually I think the take on Gibbs by Arsecast was off (simply as both seem to think he is worth replacing if possible). Against Everton we literally parked the whole team inside out own half and then slowly played out into attack. When you are so lethargic to move into offensive mode, even a player like Ozil is limited by what he can do – no breaking fast no incisive forward passes. So is Gibbs. Was he to bomb forward aggressively or not? Who would be in the box? It also came after a demoralizing defeat against Monaco where all… Read more »
And I was thinking of a 3 point lead up top when those cunts Utd scored with a sitter…May be we will start their downward spiral with a win in the FA Cup!!!About today,Alexis was good but not the last year’s Alexis…he is taking a breather I guess,will come good in the Monaco game I hope…counting on him to rescue us! and in the league as things stand third is ours to lose with 2nd ours to gain if City slips up!! COYG!
I did not know that cunt was a verb.
Good win. Always a tough game at Loftus Road, on paper we should win easily but we never seem to there.
So tight at the top and I didn’t enjoy the last 10 mins, especially as we could have been 3 or 4 up by then but all in all we chalk off another win.
On a footnote – how annoying are Man Ure.
Mertesacker heads away……
Another very strong display by Ozil, I bet he covered more ground than anyone again. He shows up all over the field to get the ball and keep it moving. Sees passes that others do not and played some great balls (unfortunately Giroud’s inability to make angled runs like Welbeck does it limits the effectiveness of some of Ozil’s passes) and has such great vision. I do worry about our inability to take games over early on as we are sloppy in possession far too often. Teams are finding that pressing us a bit more is really disrupting our ability… Read more »
I think it’s partly down to Coquelin, he does the defensive side wonderfully well but his ability in posession is a little lacking; hving Santi beside him is a wonderful balm for that though, so he’ll learn quickly.
Bit harsh on ospina there for the goal. To be fair I think his line of sight was blocked by kos/Gibbs not communicating to press on Austin. Also I thought Ramsey wasted time nicely. Better in their half than ours.
Ospina is only marginally better than Almunia, but I’ll keep supporting the team and the manager’s decision to ommit our true #1.
Side note: Kos no longer the boss
Not sure if it’s a British thing, but would someone be so kind as to define “to cunt” for me??
To kick something very hard. Cunt the ball upfield.
Totally agree with Arseblog. Felt Ospina looked awkward on their goal and felt he should have made that stop. He seems to make acrobatic saves more than he should have to because of his positioning and I still don’t like his lack of height. BTW, from what I checked out he is the shortest goalie among the goalies of at least the top teams in thr BPL, if not among the entire league. I didn’t check out every team. He just seems to barely make a diving stop that Szczesny would have made look simpler. I know I am in… Read more »
when’s the last time you saw szcz make a save? ospina isn’t at fault for that goal – kos is. period.
http://www.squawka.com/comparison-matrix#premier_league/2014/2015/david_ospina/126/126/1264/0/p|premier_league/2014/2015/wojciech_szczesny/126/126/226/0/p#clean_sheets/goals_conceded/saves/saves_per_goal/distribution_accuracy/avg_distribution_length/punches/catches#90
Here is the comparison of both of their stats this season.
Clean sheets per 90 min: Ospina 0.50, Szcz 0.18
Goals conceded per 90 : Ospina 0.62, Szcz 1.26
Saves per 90 : Ospina 2.25, Szcz 1.68
Saves per goal : Ospina 3.60, Szcz 1.40
Punches per 90 : Ospina 1.0 , Szcz 0.12
Catches per 90 : Ospina 3.12, Szcz 2.04
Distribution accuracy : Ospina 59%, Szcz 68%
Avg distribution length : Ospina 50m, Szcz 35m
Defensive errors : Ospina 0, Szcz 6
Errors leading to goals : Ospina 0, Szcz 3
Pretty damn clear, why don’t some of you just give Austin some credit, the man seriously knows how and more importantly when to strike the ball.
Sign him pse when QPR go down
Ospina will prove to not be up too it. Of course stats are against scze, monreal debuchy, chambers etc all played in the middle when koscielny was injured. When he is out our defence is poor. Ospina has benefited from a settled defence with players in the right position. southamton game apart how many howlers did he have?? Has his faults but still young and a better goalie than ospina.
Everyone forgets Sczc was keeping without koscielny and coquelin playing in the first half of the season. arguably our 2 most important defensive units that have stabilised our team
seriously? you can’t give ospina credit when he beats szcz in almost every goalkeeping statistic? i think the fact that ospina is playing behind a better defense makes his stats even more impressive…more punches, more saves, more catches per 90 minutes. what’s not to like about this guy? and btw we would’ve lost to everton if szcz was in goal – no question about it.
Why on earth are Gunners having this debate at all? Only at Arsenal are we too worried about the performance of GKs when there are so many other things to worry about in the team.. For heaven’s sake, we once had crazy Jens Lehmann at the posts… But this perhaps shows that our keepers are way too over-worked so as to attract this kind of nit-picking criticism.. Honestly speaking, all this micro-examination should be directed at the defence, its shape and our ridiculous policy of CBs sitting too deep in our half (owing in no small measure to Per’s lack… Read more »
One of ozils best performances.
Ospina was good.
Giroud, just good timing.
Alexis, world class (again)
Per, satisfying.
Ozil, the man.
Rest of team: well done.
Oh but Metersecker is too slow.
Giroud could not hit the side of a barn.
Ozil likes to go missing.
You know.;)
As much as I love Giroud I’d really like to see Welbeck get a start up top with Ozil just behind him. Feels like we are treating him much like Utd now, not playing every game and if he does he’s 3rd in line to play down the middle, he will never develop his finishing touch if we don’t put him in the position to get a few chances per game.
Giroud can be so explosive off the bench, Wenger grow some balls and rotate fairly.
Give Giroud an FA Cup breather and let Danny boy start up top on Monday at is old home, the old toilet. He’s such a good lad I hope the ManUre fans applaud him when he scores his hat trick and shows Van Gaal what a mistake he made.
Welbeck > Falcao
Alexis > Di Maria
Ozil > Rooney
Le Coq > Le Belgian Cunt
was screaming at the tv every time that big assed zamora went barging into our players. did’nt see much of him in the second half though.
and did’nt BFG look composed at the back with no speedy forwards to worry about 😉
its really a tough place to go and win so I am going to savour this.
Cazorla as a box-to-box player resulting from the injuries to Jack, Aaron, Arteta & the perennially injured Diaby has been an absolute revelation! Simply look at the stats for the games in which he’s played a bit deeper behind Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud & Welbeck and you realize that this tiny magician is the key source of the teams recent good run. His ability to not crumble when pressured in midfield and squeeze the ball out of tight areas to keep possession and also release those ahead of him in space is making it much harder for teams to play a… Read more »
Your eleven seems to be twelve….or is that a new formation??
11s are 11s
Screw that, he’s one of our best players and is a very useful guy to have if you’re counter-attacking, even if his improved defensive ability isn’t quite masterful.
Giroud looks like he is about to body slam Rosicky
Ospina looks awkward at times and his reactions are weird, just as the blog crew have been saying. But I am way more comfortable with him in two situations: when he needs to charge out at a player and during corners. I think Szczesny is a good shot stopper, but he makes me panic in situations when he needs to come forward for a challenge. The way Ospina took care of Lukaku the other day when he broke free gives me a ton of confidence in him. The first challenge was awkward but he took care of it. I prefer… Read more »
Looks like there’ll be some healthy competition going on at the RB position 🙂 Btw Giroud has got to stop with that “heart” celebration. Just don’t!
Im just gonna leave this here.
Coquelin is ridiculous
welcome to the club gabriel… already an injury.. Are we doomed??
This guy Hector Bellerin is going places !!!!! I hope this DNA Barca crap doesn’t come !!!
I had the exact same notion when Ramsey came on. Although I thought Arsene did tell him to help out, he just decided it was best to attack.
Am I the only one who thought we had one of our most well-rounded performance in a long time? We were organised defensively and methodical with our ball retention and attacks. As for the Szcesney/Ospina debate, the former is more talented but the latter is far more mature.
I think you’ve perfectly nailed the goalkeeper debate. Sczcesny was solid last year, and I expect him to be our number one again next year, and definitely in a few years time. But he’s been a but shaky this year, and a kick up the backside in the form of being second choice for a while will probably do him good.
Le Coq is fast becoming the man in the middle we need. This might be through his own personal choice or it might be down to instructions from Le Boss. Doesn’t really matter which. Just good to see a young, tactically aware and aggressive DM in our team. Flamini is better now than he was in his first stint with us but, unfortunately Flam is well past his sell by date. Arteta ain’t bad but nothing to enthuse about AND he’s also past his sell by date. That just leaves us with the very promising Coq, who reminds me of… Read more »
Everyone is having a go at Ospina (even for Monaco)and comparing him with all those great goalkeepers who never concede, including our own Szczesny. Sometimes don’t wonder whether such fans are so perfect in their own lives/work?
I’d not have said this at the beginning of the season, but I’m very very scared of an injury to Coquelin. One that involves him missing games, not just wearing a mask. He’s so much better than Flamini, it’s ridiculous.
We need another DM next season too (in addition to him I mean). Hopefully the penny has dropped with Mr Wenger, who for so long had convinced himself that Mourinho et al were wrong about the need holding or DMs.
(something I’ve never understood as his successful years were based on Vieira).